It's fourth-and-a-month for Carr

JOHN P. LOPEZ, Copyrigth 2006 Houston Chronicle |
December 6, 2006

David Carr's play over the final four weeks, and not anything Vince Young does Sunday at Relaint Stadium, will determine how Carr's future with the Texans plays out.

DAVID Carr has reached the point of critical mass, a place in his life when the slightest flinch could send his career and the Texans' fortunes plummeting into oblivion.

And as heavy a burden as Vince Young is on Carr's shoulder and despite the long shadow Young will cast over the Texans and coach Gary Kubiak from now until forever, Young really has nothing to do with this organization's future anymore.

Sure, it's good radio to talk about Carr vs. Young. It's a drawing card to have Young returning to Houston on Sunday to stand on the opposite sideline from the face of the Texans' franchise.

It's good Web and blog fodder. It's an "I told you so" for all those who wished the Texans would have drafted Young and ditched Carr last offseason.

But all that and three touchdown passes over the past nine weeks still gets you David Carr — for about a month, anyway. How long Carr lasts beyond that is up to him, not Young.

There's no going back

Vince Young is a Titan. There is no turning back the clock. No "do-over."

The Texans cannot go back to last winter and void the three-year, $24.75 million extension owner Bob McNair gave Carr, which in essence assured Young would end up elsewhere — eventually Tennessee.

For Kubiak, who has made it clear he will evaluate Carr's future as the starter at season's end, there is only wishing he knew then what he knows now.

Then, Kubiak saw only tools and talent when evaluating Carr. And being a master craftsman of playoff-level quarterbacks, Kubiak could not wait to start building.

Now, after spending day after day, game after game with Carr, gaining insight into the leadership and intangible qualities of his starting quarterback, maybe Kubiak knows better. Maybe he knows that come the offseason, the Texans will be in the market for a new quarterback or poring over draft lists in search of an answer. But it's not as if that quarterback will be Vince Young.

Now or never

Kubiak on Monday called this week's game and this point in Carr's career "an opportunity." Privately, he has told Carr that this is where the teaching and coaching end. This is where it's up to Carr. Put the team on your shoulders. Don't be good; be great. Don't create more doubt; leave no doubt that the bad games and bad vibes Carr has created in Houston are a thing of the past.

If Carr cannot answer with at least a pair of wins in a season-ending schedule that includes the Titans, New England, Indianapolis and Cleveland, then he will have to be replaced. Those wins cannot be fluke wins like Sunday's at Oakland, either. Carr must do what Young has done. Win with guts, leave an impression and make game-changing plays.

Early on in their relationship, Kubiak was impressed with Carr's eagerness to learn and apparent hunger to improve. "Feed me," Carr told Kubiak in one of their first meetings. And since Kubiak had never been around a quarterback he could not fix, it seemed it would be only a matter of time before Carr began playing consistently well and making decisive plays.

Kubiak turned decent quarterbacks like Denver's Jake Plummer into great ones and gifted quarterbacks like San Francisco's Steve Young into league and Super Bowl MVPs. And always, he did it quickly — often within a year.

But the more Kubiak has fed Carr, the more Carr has spit it back up. The three-turnover debacle and benching in the first meeting with the Titans was the first sign Kubiak wasn't getting through to his pupil. Bad offensive line or not, a lack of depth or not, Carr's play has been inexcusable. The quarterback must do more than just get in the way.

None of Kubiak's tutelage has stuck, which is why the Texans are stuck with the scene they'll witness Sunday at Reliant Stadium. Young will return a conquering hero, a quarterback whose statistics don't compare with Carr's but who has been a winner in five of his last seven games.

But as much as the headlines are all about Young vs. Carr, Sunday's game and the three that follow are really about Carr vs. Carr.

Carr has a month to prove something, and it must be something big. If he fails, Kubiak will have to consider the David Carr Experiment one that blew up in his face.

But while Kubiak won't be able to do it all over again, he does have Plummer's phone number in Denver. He knows how badly Kansas City Chiefs backup Damon Huard wants to start again. And Kubiak's office isn't far from where Houston Cougars star Kevin Kolb became a hometown hero in his own right.

Kubiak and Carr both will look bad if this marriage between coach and pupil doesn't work out, especially every time Young or Reggie Bush dances into an NFL end zone.

But for Kubiak, there will be another quarterback with whom he can work and another chance. There will be time to fix what went wrong in this first season back home. Carr is out of time